Fate and karma: the problem with ideas in Truyện Kiều

In writing Truyện Kiều (The Tale of Kieu), Nguyễn Du took the plot from Kim Vân Kiều truyện (Jin Yun Qiao), a banal and insignificant Chinese novel, and elevated it into a great literary work with his great poetry, characterisation, psychological insight, and moral vision. There are lots of ideas in Nguyễn Du’s work, but there are 2 main conflicting ideas that run through Truyện Kiều: fate (Confucian) and karma (Buddhist). 
2 central ideas, related to fate, are tài mệnh tương đố (conflict between talent and fate, i.e. a talented person must have a bad fate) and hồng nhan bạc phận/ hồng nhan bạc mệnh (a beautiful woman must have a bad fate), which are in the opening lines of Truyện Kiều: 

Trăm năm trong cõi người ta,
Chữ tài chữ mệnh khéo là ghét nhau.
Trải qua một cuộc bể dâu,
Những điều trông thấy mà đau đớn lòng.
Lạ gì bỉ sắc tư phong,
Trời xanh quen thói má hồng đánh ghen.

In Huỳnh Sanh Thông’s translation: 

A hundred years—in this life span on earth
talent and destiny are apt to feud. 
You must go through a play of ebb and flow
and watch such things as you make you sick at heart. 
Is it so strange that losses balance gains? 
Blue Heaven's wont to strike a rose from spite.

In Michael Counsell’s translation: 

It’s always been the same
good fortunes seldom come the way 
of those endowed, they say, 
with genius and a dainty face.
What tragedies take place
within each circling space of years!
‘Rich in good looks’ appears
to mean poor luck and tears of woe;
which may sound strange, I know,
but is not really so, I swear,
since Heaven everywhere
seems jealous of the fair of face. 

These ideas run through the story of Truyện Kiều, and the characters believe in them, especially Kiều herself. It should be added that fate (số, phận, mệnh) and karma (nghiệp) are crucial concepts in Vietnamese culture.  
For centuries Vietnamese people have been debating these ideas in Truyện Kiều: is Nguyễn Du’s work a demonstration of fate, or does Kiều will things to happen because of her belief in fate (or her superstition)? Is it fate, or is it Kiều herself? 
On the surface, it may look like the entire story demonstrates the concept of fate. At the beginning of Truyện Kiều, Kiều goes to a festival with her sister Vân and her brother Vương Quan, and notices a desolate, abandoned grave, which belongs to Đạm Tiên, who was once a courtesan. The ghost of Đạm Tiên appears to Kiều 3 times throughout her life, in her dreams.
The 1st time, Đạm Tiên warns Kiều of her unfortunate fate. The 2nd time, after a suicide attempt, Đạm Tiên says it isn’t time for Kiều to die, as she hasn’t paid her karmic debt, but they would meet again at Tiền Đường river. 
Kiều’s 15 years of adversity and suffering seem to reflect Đạm Tiên’s words, but does it necessarily prove that there is fate? Or does Kiều choose to sacrifice herself to save her family because of her firm belief that her fate would be bad anyway? Perhaps destiny is part of it—she sells herself to be a concubine, not a prostitute, but gets sold into a brothel, and many other bad things happen to her, but does her reaction to them not show a passive acceptance of fate, and a belief that she must suffer to pay karmic debt from the previous life? She and Đạm Tiên do meet again at Tiền Đường river, but is it fate, or does Kiều follow Đạm Tiên’s words and choose to drown herself, once she learns the river is called Tiền Đường?    
Kiều seems to think that everything is due to destiny and karma, but is it? Kiều doesn’t choose to become a prostitute at Tú Bà’s brothel, but later she does choose to trust Bạc Bà and Bạc Hạnh. She doesn’t choose to be abducted by Hoạn Thư’s people, but she does choose to run away later, so why doesn’t she run away earlier? She doesn’t choose what Hồ Tôn Hiến does to her, but doesn’t she choose to trust him and persuade Từ Hải? Not to mention, critics of Kiều often note the fact that she plays music for Hồ Tôn Hiến—a choice difficult to defend. 
Does Đạm Tiên tell Kiều’s future, or does Kiều choose to follow her words? 
Near the end of Truyện Kiều, Tam Hợp is correct to say that it’s up to Trời (Heaven) but also up to us. The philosophy in Truyện Kiều is a conflict between the Confucian idea of fate, meaning that everything has been decided, and the Buddhist idea of karma, meaning that everything is up to us—we must do good deeds to create good karma, and those who create bad karma would have to pay for it. But these 2 beliefs are not always in conflict—Kiều’s acceptance comes from her belief that her suffering is both because of fate, and because of karmic debt from her past life that she now has to pay, otherwise she would create more karmic debt for the next one.  
These beliefs are my problem with Truyện Kiều, or at least with Kiều. Even though Nguyễn Du might not have set out to demonstrate either fate or karma, these ideas exist in the work itself, and are repeated multiple times throughout the story by different characters. 
I don’t really believe in fate. I believe there are factors beyond human control, which could be fate, luck, or chance—we can’t choose where we’re born or which family we’re born into, for instance, and except for suicide, we can’t choose how and when we die, either. I believe that life is made up of many little decisions, and the decisions we make are because of who we are, as a person, but we still make our own choices. 
I don’t really believe in karma either. I believe in causality, in the sense that actions have consequences, but I don’t necessarily believe that those who do good deeds would get rewards and those who do bad deeds would receive punishments. I don’t think that suffering now is because of karmic debt from the previous life either—such beliefs may make it easier for some people to accept circumstances they cannot change, but do not work for me. 
This is why I’ve been wrestling with the ideas in Truyện Kiều. 
Even the idea of tài mệnh tương đố (talent and fate are in conflict, i.e. a talented person must have a bad fate) and hồng nhan bạc phận (a beautiful woman must have a bad fate) are problematic. From the beginning to the end, Nguyễn Du seems to use Kiều’s life to say tài mệnh tương đố and hồng nhan bạc phận, but is it really the case?  
Kiều’s life is full of misfortunes indeed, and it is understandable that a beautiful woman in a Confucian society must have an unjust, unhappy life. But is it not because of good looks and talents that Kiều is a favourite at Tú Bà’s brothel and gets special treatment? Is it not because of good looks and talents that she is saved twice from brothels, by Thúc Sinh and Từ Hải? Is it not because of talents that she escapes punishment by the judge, he approves the marriage between her and Thúc Sinh, and Thúc Sinh’s father accepts her? Is it not because of talents that Kiều gets some respect from Hoạn Thư, and Hoạn Thư makes life easier for her afterwards? 
Of course one can argue that without good looks, Kiều wouldn’t be sold into a brothel and wouldn’t make Hoạn Thư jealous, but we cannot dismiss either the fact that Kiều is saved several times because of her talents. Đạm Tiên, for example, seems to have been a courtesan her whole life.  
Ideas in Truyện Kiều are complex, Nguyễn Du sometimes seems to contradict himself. People have been debating for centuries, I’m new to the table—happy to be corrected. But of course, Truyện Kiều wouldn’t be a masterpiece if it could be reduced to something simple and everyone agreed.